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May 6
1800s 1900s 1910s *1915 - Babe Ruth, as a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, had three hits, including his first major league home run when he connected off Jack Warhop of the New York Yankees at the Polo Grounds. *1917 - Bob Groom of the St. Louis Browns duplicated teammate Ernie Koob's feat of the previous day by pitching a 3–0 no-hitter against the Chicago White Sox in the second game of a doubleheader at Sportsman's Park. 1920s *1925 - Ty Cobb batted his fifth home run in two games tying the record set by Cap Anson in 1884. *1929 - The American League announced it will discontinue the league's MVP award. 1930s *1931 - Willie Mays is born in Westfield, Alabama. After a brief career in the Negro Leagues, Mays will make his major league debut with the New York Giants in 1951. During a 22-year major league career, Mays will bat .302 with 660 home runs and 1903 RBI. Mays will gain Hall of Fame honors in 1971. *1934 - At Fenway Park, Carl Reynolds, Moose Solters, Rick Ferrell and Bucky Walters hit four consecutive triples for the Boston Red Sox en route to a 14-4 win over the Detroit Tigers. 1940s *1941: **The Brooklyn Dodgers acquired second baseman Billy Herman from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for OF Charlie Gilbert, IF Johnny Hudson, and cash. Herman, struggling with a .194 batting average, will hit .291 for the Dodgers over the balance of the season. **Hank Greenberg made his last game before entering the U.S. military a memorable one as he hit two home runs with three RBI helping the Detroit Tigers to a 7–4 victory over the New York Yankees. 1950s *1951 - Cliff Chambers of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitches a 3–0 no-hitter in the second game of a doubleheader against the host Boston Braves, despite walking eight batters and throwing a wild pitch. Chambers becomes only the second Pittsburgh pitcher to hurl a no-hitter. *1956 - Cincinnati Reds outfielder Gus Bell hits home runs off Bob Miller in both ends of a doubleheader against the Philadelphia Phillies at Crosley Field. Cincinnati wins 10–2 and 11–9. *1953 - Bobo Holloman of the St. Louis Browns pitches a 6–0 no-hitter against the Philadelphia Athletics, becoming only the third pitcher in major league history to fire a no-hitter in his first start. Holloman will win only two more games during a brief one-year career and will never pitch another complete game in the majors. 1960s *1968 -San Francisco Giants relief pitcher Lindy McDaniel set a National League record playing his 225th consecutive game without committing an error. The streak includes 108 chances handled successfully since June 16, 1964. 1970s *1974 - Oakland Athletics pitcher Paul Linblad's major league streak of 385 consecutive games without committing an error came to an end when he made an errant throw in a 6–3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles. 1980s *1982 - Gaylord Perry of the Seattle Mariners became the 15th major league pitcher with 300 victories when he defeated the New York Yankees 7–3 at the Kingdome. Perry became the first pitcher to notch his 300th win since Early Wynn did it in 1963. *1983 - At Tiger Stadium, the California Angels defeated Detroit, 4–2, as Rod Carew went 3-for-4 to raise his batting average to .500 (48-for 96). The Angels’ first baseman will finish the season at .339, second best in the American League as Wade Boggs of the Red Sox leads the league with .361 pace. 1990s *1994 - Anthony Young won as a starter for the first time in more than two years as the Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 10–1. The hard luck pitcher, obtained from the Mets for shortstop José Vizcaíno, ended his 29-game losing-streak major league record as a starter. *1998 - Rookie Kerry Wood tied the major league record with 20 strikeouts in a nine-inning game, pitching a one-hitter to lead the Chicago Cubs over the Houston Astros 2–0. The 20-year-old right-hander tied the record set by Roger Clemens of the Boston Red Sox against Seattle in 1986, and matched by Clemens against Detroit in 1996. Wood also broke the National League record of 19 strikeouts in a nine-inning game, held by Steve Carlton, Tom Seaver and David Cone. 2000s *2005 - Preserving a 6–5 win over the Cardinals, Trevor Hoffman became the third closer in major league history to save 400 games The Padres reliever joined Lee Smith (478) and John Franco (424) as the other bullpen artists who have also reached this milestone. Births *1883 - Ed Karger, pitcher (b. 1957) *1890 - Walton Cruise, outfielder (d. 1975) *1907 - Ivy Andrews, pitcher (d. 1970) *1917 - Mike McCormick, outfielder (d. 1976) *1921 - Dick Wakefield, All-Star outfielder (d. 1985) *1931 - Willie Mays, Hall of Fame outfielder *1939 - Russ Gibson, catcher *1940 - Bill Hands, pitcher *1944 - Masanori Murakami, pitcher *1962 - Tom Bolton, pitcher *1968 - Phil Clark, outfielder *1973 - Israel Alcántara, outfielder *1973 - Mike Kinkade, outfielder *1976 - Earl Snyder, outfielder *1981 - Dustin Nippert, pitcher Deaths *1956 - Harry Ostdiek, catcher (b. 1881) *1960 - Vern Bickford, All-Star pitcher (b. 1920) *1985 - Kirby Higbe, All-Star pitcher (b. 1915) *1985 - Joe Glenn, catcher (b. 1908) *2003 - Art Houtteman, All-Star pitcher (b. 1927) *2005 - Lee Stine, pitcher (b. 1913)